Agenda item

Motions

The following Motion has been received from the Liberal Democrat Group in accordance with Council Procedure 14.1 and 14.2, the detail of which is set out below:

 

The Council is asked to support a request for Officers to explore what options might exist for introducing further controls on the definition, number and quality of Homes in Multiple Occupation and prepare appropriate reports for the relevant decision body of the Council.  The reasons why such additional controls are considered necessary is that HMO’s are often concentrated in clusters.  These are areas that can often suffer from poor housing conditions and high levels of deprivation, crime and anti-social behaviour.  Introducing further controls would be expected to contribute to an improvement in the social and economic conditions in the areas; a reduction in anti-social behaviour; an improvement in general housing conditions; and a reduction in the level of deprivation; and a reduction in crime. 

Minutes:

            The Chairman announced that two Motions had been received in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 14.1 and 14.2.  The first Motion  forming part of the agenda papers dated 19 December 2019 with the second having been circulated in Bundle 2 on 8 January 2020. 

 

            The Chairman confirmed that the Motions would be dealt with in the order in which they had been received and so Motion 1 would be considered first.

           

            The Chairman invited Councillor Miss Seex, to propose and present her Motion. 

 

            The wording of the first Motion is as set out below:

 

           The Council is asked to support a request for Officers to explore what options might exist for introducing further controls on the definition, number and quality of Homes in Multiple Occupation and prepare appropriate reports for the relevant decision body of the Council.

 

The reasons why such additional controls are considered necessary is that HMO’s are often concentrated in clusters. These are areas can often suffer from poor housing conditions and high levels of deprivation, crime and anti-social behaviour. Introducing further controls would be expected to contribute to an improvement in the social and economic conditions in the area; a reduction in anti-social behaviour; an increase in community involvement; an improvement in general housing conditions; and reduction in the level of deprivation; and a reduction in crime.

 

            In proposing her Motion, Councillor Miss Seex, referred to the definition of a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) and referred to a recent report issued by the House of Lords in April 2019 entitled “The Future of Seaside Town Report” she stated that the findings of this report were applicable to this District and so asked Officers if they could investigate existing HMOs in the most deprived areas of the District for re-assessment and to what further controls could be introduced.

 

            The Motion was then seconded by Councillor Mrs Erskine.

 

            The Chairman then invited Members to debate the Motion. Many Councillors supported the sentiments of the Motion but had a degree of discomfort in accepting that a reduction in HMOs would automatically mean a reduction in anti-social behaviour.  It was felt that the two should not be linked.  For some, living in an HMO was not a choice and homelessness was often the only other alternative. This led to the view that there was a great need for the Council to provide other forms of accommodation for single people to reduce ‘sofa surfing’ and to assist younger people, many of which had just journeyed through the care system, to become independent.

 

            Reference was made to the work that the former Leader of the Council had progressed where suitable accommodation had been built for young people in Chichester and Worthing.  Site visits had been attended by a small group of Councillors to see if it might be possible to identify a site within the District to accommodate a similar scheme working with other agencies.  Sadly, this had not progressed further and so this emphasised the important role that HMOs still played in providing essential housing.  It was agreed that HMOs needed to be more controlled to protect people from unscrupulous landlords. 

 

            Councillor Northeast therefore made a request that the wording “crime and anti-social behaviour” be removed from the Motion.

 

            Other Councillors confirmed that they supported the removal of these words and the proposal to investigate the practice to introduce additional  controls to ensure that all HMOs met the required standards.  It was emphasised that HMOs should not be regulated out of existence and that they did serve a purpose and provided an important function.

 

            Other Councillors aired caution about removing the words anti-social behaviour because it should not be suggesting that the residents were causing such problems, it was often those targeting residents that were the source of this problem.  Information was requested in terms of the exact number of HMOs registered in the District and how these were controlled.  

 

            As a result of the comments made, both Councillors Mrs Erskine and Miss Seex confirmed that they were happy to amend the Motion by deleting the second paragraph.  This was because the first part of the Motion which was asking Officers to explore options was felt to be adequate to cover the concerns raised by Councillors. 

 

            On the Motion being put to the vote, it was declared CARRIED.

 

            The Council then

 

                        RESOLVED

 

                        That Officers be requested to explore what options might exist for introducing further controls on the definition, number and quality of Homes in Multiple Occupation and prepare appropriate reports for the relevant decision body of the Council.

 

(Prior to the discussion on Motion 2, Councillors Dr Walsh and Elkins redeclared their interests made at the start of the meeting).  (Councillor Mrs Pendleton also declared a Personal Interest as a Member of West Sussex County Council).

 

            The Chairman then invited the Green Group to present Motion 2.

 

            Councillor Ms Thurston outlined that the Council had now declared a Climate Emergency and had agreed to place climate change at the heart of its forward plans in order to meet the target set of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

 

Arun District Council employees were members of the West Sussex County Council Local Authority Pension Fund, which had funds invested in fossil fuel companies, there was a growing movement across the UK for Councils and organisations to divest from their fossil fuel investments, as a first step in their move towards carbon neutrality.

 

In outlining the background to her proposal, she confirmed that a Motion had been passed by both Worthing Borough Council and Adur District Council three weeks ago which she hoped that this Council could support as this would resolve this issue of concern.

 

Councillor Ms Thurston then formally proposed her Motion which is set out below:


“This Council calls upon the Trustees of the West Sussex County Council Local Authority Pension Fund (of which the Councils employees are members) to divest that fund of all investments in fossil fuel stocks, equities and funds and it instructs the Council’s Chief Executive to write to the Trustees of the fund with a copy of this Motion and asking them to take action.”

 

            The Motion was seconded by Councillor Mrs Catterson.

 

            Those speaking in support of the Motion thanked Councillor Ms Thurston for bringing this issue to Members’ attention.  It was felt that the Council needed to take the necessary action to reduce the impact on the planet, this Motion would be a step towards this.  Also, as other authorities had already taken this action, why should this Council not follow suit?

 

            Other Councillors agreed stating that the Council needed to drive change and as it had, this evening, declared a climate emergency.

 

            Some Councillors although agreeing with the sentiment of the Motion, explained that the West Sussex Pension Panel itself did not make decisions on its investments.  Despite this fact, it was agreed that the Motion should still be supported in line with the action taken by other authorities. 

 

            The Council

 

                        RESOLVED

 

                        This Council calls upon the Trustees of the West Sussex County Council Local Authority Pension Fund (of which the Councils employees are members) to divest that fund of all investments in fossil fuel stocks, equities and funds and it instructs the Council’s Chief Executive to write to the Trustees of the fund with a copy of this Motion and asking them to take action.